


I was Supposed to Protect You #2

by LibertyKingdom



Category: Turn (TV 2014)
Genre: Annlett, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 17:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13462599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibertyKingdom/pseuds/LibertyKingdom
Summary: Anna confronts a horrible truth during childbirth.





	I was Supposed to Protect You #2

Any pretense of fearlessness that Anna was clinging to evaporated with the next violent series of contractions and the sound of her anguished outcry. The languishing brunette was terrified. Things weren’t going according to plan at all and in this case, deviations from the usual were usually fatal.  
The midwife mutters something about too much blood which, quietly resounded in Anna’s mind. Today was supposed to be the happiest day of their married lives. A day when nine months of toiling would bring about the fulfillment of Edmund and Anna’s most cherished dreams of starting a family. But who, other than Shakespeare knew happy beginnings could also contain tragedy?

Internally, Anna was forced to confront a hellish truth. She would not survive to see the dawning of another day. Her body was already weakened by the labor and loss of life-sustaining scarlet. She’d never be able to observe with her own earthly eyes the growing of their son or daughter. There’d be no rejoicing in all the family firsts. There would be no first time taking their child on a ride with the horses, no holding on to tiny fingers until the child took off walking, no teaching the child to read. Nothing. She’d be absent, rotting in some shallow grave beside the church. A helpless factor in the rearing of her own, long-awaited, offspring. This world was incredibly cruel. It would spare the reckless mother who was content to abandon her child, leaving him to meander the streets but not the woman who, for years sought the arrival of the precious gift and planned to cherish it with all of her heart.

Even more distressing than all the thoughts of things she would not experience was the doleful, defeated look etched within her husband’s brown eyes. When she finally quieted and ceased from writhing Edmund chokes hoarsely, barely able to pry the words from his lamenting tongue. “Anna…. Anna I was supposed to protect you! Ha..had I known….”

Five frigid fingers tighten their grasp considerably upon his larger hand until her knuckles had turned a ghastly shade of white. Her head of sweat-drenched curls falls back into the plush pillow and she forces her tired gaze to train upon Edmund. “Shhhh…” Anna breathes in an effort to sooth his frayed nerves. “Y… you c…couldn’t h…have known. N…nor could I, that t…this… would happen.” She falls silent as the midwife urges her to push. Time was working against them.

Every moment Anna bears down and pushes for the child, she is adversely draining her own reserves of energy and vitality. Like a flower without water, the former rebel spy finds herself slowly wilting. The surges of exhaustion were becoming more and more powerful with every breath of rest she inhales.

Anna fears that perchance, it will rob her of her final goodbyes before their child’s first cries. “You’ve …done everything you could…fo…for me. That is all I could…could ever ask. Sa…save for this– be su..sure to care for, love, and p…protect our child. Please.”


End file.
